Chapter 29: End of the Line

-6 HP!

I felt a stinging pain in my cheek. Where was I?

-8 HP!

“WAKE UP!” Daria screamed as she slapped me harder. I tried my best to think, but at that moment, my mind was in turmoil.

-5 HP!

“Snap out of it!” Daria cried and slapped me again.

Restless Dead Lvl. 16

I looked around as I realized that hundreds of undead cornered us. Daria seemed to give up on trying to snap me out as she grabbed her axe and desperately tried to fight off the undead.

“HELP!!!” Asharra shouted as she was dragged by a zombie. “NO!!!”

When I saw Asharra’s face, it reminded me of my daughter, Danielle. Now that I stared at her beautiful round eyes, she does have a strange resemblance. When I saw zombies tried to kill her, I felt an incredible amount of rage seething inside me.

Kill them all!

-281 HP! Critical Hit!

Target Died

The whispers in my head screamed at me as I cast [Rock Bullet] at the restless dead holding Asharra and cast [Earth Wall] to cover her. I felt the seemingly unlimited power inside me and the whispers seemed to fuel them. I let the rage took over me as I cast [Chain Hellfire] on the horde.

That moment, my magic was stunningly strong. I wasn’t just burning one at a time. When I cast [Chain Hellfire], the flames got too hot that everything that went into contact were instantly turned into ashes. Daria stood beside me as she tried to keep the undead from my back.

“RAAAAAWWWWRRRR!”

As we fought off the charging horde, we heard a loud roar coming from the distance. It was tempting to feed the rage and continue on my killing spree, but whatever it was, I didn’t wait for it to come. It could be an Ogre zombie or worse, a much stronger monster.

[What’s that?] - Daria

[Run!] – Miguel

As if on instinct, I carried Asharra on my back as Daria and I ran away from the horde. I used [Earth Manipulation] to grab chunks of rocks from the buildings and made them collapse on our way. The boulders were then tossed into the air and catapulted to the horde. I turned my head on my back as we ran. The debris was enough to stall the horde and some of them were crushed. But it wasn’t enough to stall the giant creature that was chasing us. The thing that stalled it were the other zombies themselves. It was killing its own kind in order to get to us.

Unburied Hulk Lvl. 33

The monster stood for at least 12 feet in height. It was as tall as an ogre, but it was more menacing. The creature had dark grey rotting skin with bony spikes protruding in its two arms. It looked like it was made out of corpses that was sewed together. However, this undead creature wasn’t a boss monster, but a normal one. Fortunately for us, there was only one chasing us. The boss monster of an undead dungeon is usually a Lich.

I remembered reading something from the Beastiary book about the undead. Unburied Hulks are created whenever there’s a huge pile of unburied corpses. The dungeon that spawns them will corrupt the corpses, but instead of individual undead creatures, the pile becomes a gigantic monstrosity made out of parts and pieces from different corpses.

Unburied Hulks are some kind of an accidental monster. It’s quite rare and obviously, very deadly. We ran towards tight cracks and crevices of ruined buildings in order to stall its fast and unstoppable charge, but the monster was too strong to be blocked by concrete and it used its bone spikes as blades and cut through concrete like butter.

Target is Burning!

-40 HP!

-40 HP!

[It’s not working!] – Daria

I cast [Chain Hellfire] and covered its whole body with flames, but the Hulk seemed to be unaffected. It only made the creature angrier. Unfortunately, the only magic that can defeat this monster effectively was Holy element and I didn’t have a holy type spell.

-40 HP!

My SP drained continuously as we ran. Daria could last longer because of her AGI, but I couldn’t. I had to defeat the monster. I checked my skill [Auto-Cast] to see my list of spells.

Auto-Cast [Passive] Intermediate Lvl. 7

Effect: You can instantly cast melded spells from your memory. Each level of this skill increases Spells that can be auto-cast by 1. If you another spell is memorized when the limit was reached, the new memorized spell will overwrite the oldest memorized spell. To set a spell on auto-cast, say ‘Memorize: Spell name’ while thinking of the combination.

Current Limit of Spells: 14

Spells Memorized:

[Chain Hellfire] [Quagmire] [Rock Bullet] [Earth Spike] [Earth Wall] [Chilling Wind] [Tailwind]

Obviously, [Earth Wall], [Rock Bullet] and [Chilling Wind] wouldn’t stop it, but [Quagmire] and [Earth Spike] might. I pointed my staff on the ground and cast [Quagmire]. The road became a soft with thick and muddy consistency.

“RAAWWRR!!”

The Unburied Hulk was successfully trapped inside the quick mud. It thrashed violently as it tried to escape, but its weight was too heavy and it was sinking fast. Its bulky built prevented it further from escaping. I continuously cast [Quagmire] to make the quick mud deeper. Finally, it sank too deep that only its head was visible.

We stopped for a while to catch our breath as we kill the remnants of the zombie horde. There were only ten zombies chasing us, so we finished them off quickly. The only monster left was the Unburied Hulk itself. Well, Buried Hulk would be more appropriate.

“Go, kill it!” Daria said as she pointed her axe at the monster. “It might escape.”

My mana was low at that point, but what Daria said was true. I had to kill the monster before it escapes. I used [Chain Hellfire] on its head and bombarded it with [Rock Bullet] until it died.

Target Died

The Unburied Hulk’s head was crushed into a black bloody mess. I lifted up the earth with my magic in order to loot it, but we only got copper coins and a small mana stone. As expected from undead monsters, the loot was terrible.

Copper Coins X 14 Small Mana Stone X 1

I didn’t level up from killing it, but it gave me huge EXP points. When it was over, I felt the rage died down and my strength faded away. Asharra rushed to me and sobbed in my chest.

Attribute(s) gained:

+5 MP

Debuff: Mental Strain

Feeling her warm embrace, I dropped my staff and stroke her head to comfort her. Daria, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be glad about what happened. Her hand swiped the empty air as I’ve wondered what she was doing. Furious, she stood in front of me and grabbed my collar. I realized that Daria must’ve leveled up and added points to her strength.

“What the fuck was that?!” Daria yelled, lifting me up in the air. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“What are you doing, nyah?” Asharra asked. “Don’t hurt him. He saved us, nyah!”

“Stay out of this, Asharra.” Daria said without removing her glare to me. “We almost died because of you!”

“I’m sorry…” I muttered.

I didn’t know what I was thinking. Normally, I would act like a high douche and if I was normal, I’d probably beat her to a pulp for trying to raise her hand against me. I admit to myself that I was in the wrong though. I almost got us killed. Sorry was only word I could think about and I felt like breaking down.

“Sorry…”

As tears flowed from my eyes, Daria finally let me go. Asharra, on the other hand, came to me with a teary, but thankful eyes. I hugged her as if I was holding my own daughter. I missed her so much.

“Come on. Let’s move.” Daria said. “Can you get up?”

“Mental strain…”

“What?”

“Mental strain.” I said again as I tried to catch my breath. “I need a minute.”

“We can’t stay here. Who knows how many are still there.”

“Then leave me. Just- Just let me die.”

“What about your family?”

“If any of us fall behind is left behind, remember? Just go. Leave me.”

“I can’t do that.” Daria took my left arm to her shoulders and helped me get up. “Asharra, get his staff.”

It seemed that I used too much of my mana again. I hate mental strain debuff. It’s like having a really, really bad hangover and your brain’s turned into gravy. My skull was like made of glass and each step was a painful chore.

Even though it was a bad timing that I had mental strain, it was fortunate for us that the little incident made me kill most of the zombies in that area. Daria did her best to support me as we travelled and though it almost took us forever, I was surprised that she could keep it up and her stamina wasn’t to be underestimated. It looked to me that she was trying hard to prove herself.

Anyway, we found more “Red John” smiley face on the way. But when we reached the third sign, it was already afternoon. The distance between two signs was at least one kilometer apart. If it weren’t for my mental strain, we could cover more distance and I was actually slowing us down.

After the agonizing walk, we found a place where we could stay for the night. It was a five-story apartment and we stayed in a room on the fifth floor. We could definitely stay at a better place, but it was enough. The only problem was Daria made me climb up the stairs which made my head more painful. I vomited most of what I ate from breakfast and maybe from last night.

Daria chose an apartment unit closest to the fire exit and farthest from the stairs, which was impressive, in my opinion. I clearly underestimated her ability to think. Not only we were far from a surprise attack from the undead, we also had a quick access to escape route.

“Finally.” Daria sighed in relief as she sat me down on the couch. “Do you have some food?”

I took two pieces of chimera steak and gave it to her as I made myself comfortable on the couch.

“How about you?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You should eat.” Daria said tore her steak in half and offered it to me.

“I have more in my inventory.”

I didn’t have the appetite. Not after what happened.

“Did you take your uhmm- medication?” Daria asked.

“I’m not crazy.” I said in defense.

“Of course.” Daria sat on the couch beside me. “Who’s Daniel?”

“Come on, talk to me. I’ll listen.”

I didn’t know if she would believe me if I told her the truth. No one will, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I talk. I was already an insane person in her eyes.

“He’s… Daniel is…” I looked up and let out a deep sigh. I was trying my best to hold back my tears. I wanted to convince myself that Daniel wasn’t real, but for me, my children were real. They were more real than this world. “He’s my son.”

“Oh.” Daria looked down as she slowly nodded her head. “Sorry.”

“How old was he?”

“Three.” I replied. “Look. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“I have family back in the states.” Daria said. “Now that nothing works, I don’t know if I would see them again.”

“It’s okay. All of us lost someone.” Daria rubbed my back. “You should rest.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

“No! I don’t want to sleep!” My hands tightened into fists, but my body was too weak to lash out my anger. “I - I don’t want to sleep.”

“What’s wrong, nyah?” Asharra asked.

“I’m just tired.” I responded as I sat back.

“Asharra, go to the other room.”

Asharra did as she commanded, and left us alone in the living room. I didn’t know why Daria wanted us to be alone, but she stared at me with her blue eyes. She leaned closer and placed her hand on my cheek. I started to panic for a bit and slightly pulled back.

“It’s okay. Just relax.” She whispered in my ear.

♪♪♪If life is a river and your heart is a boat

And just like a water baby, baby born to float

And if life is a wild wind that blows way on high

And your heart is Amelia dying to fly

Heaven knows no frontiers and I've seen heaven in your eyes♪♪♪

Daria began to sing as she slowly guided my head towards her lap. She gently caressed my hair as if trying to put me to sleep. From what I remembered, it was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Oqngy_1H8] No Frontiers by The Corrs[/url]. An old song, but it was on Daria Swann’s first album. She made a cover in YouTube and from there she became famous.

♪♪♪In your eyes faint as the singing of a lark

That somehow this black night

Feels warmer for the spark

Warmer for the spark

To hold us 'til the day

When fear will lose its grip

And heaven has its ways… ♪♪♪

I felt like a child in a mother’s embrace. Warm, safe, comfortable and sleepy. Perhaps it was the effect of her skill. It made me realize that her voice was truly beautiful.

♪♪♪Heaven knows no frontiers

And I've seen heaven in your eyes…♪♪♪

When I woke up the next day, I didn’t have a nightmare, but the whispers were still as loud in my head. I realized that I fell asleep in Daria’s lap while Asharra was sleeping soundly on the other couch holding my staff as if guarding it with her life. I looked at Daria and it seemed that she also fell asleep during guard duty. I sat up and I felt better than yesterday. She was jolted awake when I sat up.

“Oh. Sorry.” She yawned. “I was just closing my eyes for a bit.”

I have to say that her skill might be useful as my mental strain debuff was no more. I took out my journal and skimmed the pages. I noticed that I was running out of pages to write on, but I did my best to update it. The sun was already up. I woke them up, so we could have breakfast and continue with our journey.

“Uhmmm. Mr. Mage.” Asharra said as she carried my staff.

“Miguel.” I said. “My name’s Miguel.”

“Mi… Mig…” Asharra was stuttering as she tried to pronounce my name. “Can’t I just call you Mr. Mage, nyah?”

“Sure, whatever.”

“I’m trying to do a boom boom magic like you did, but it doesn’t work, nyah.” Asharra waved my staff and tried her best to imitate me, even though the staff was too large for her to wield.

“That’s because you don’t have the skill.”

“Can you teach me, meow?” Asharra asked as she handed me my staff.

“I will, but not yet. I still need to level up my skills.”

If cuteness can kill, Asharra would’ve already killed me. It reminded me of my twins’ cuteness and charm and she was also well behaved for a child.

“I always wanted to learn magic, but Mama said master wouldn’t allow it, nyah.” Asharra’s smile turned into a frown. “I miss my Mama.”

“Master?”

“She and her mother were slaves.” Daria said. “Apparently, slavery still exists in their world.”

“Your master. What did he look like? Are they humans like us?” I asked.

“What’s a humans, nyah?”

“Well, they’re… They’re us.” I replied.

“Hmmm. My master has long ears and his hair is the same color as a wheat.” She said. “He can do magic too. He’s amazing, but he’s mean to me even if I’m a good girl. Mama said I should always be a good girl, nyah.”

“It’s okay, Asharra. No one’s going to be mean to you from now on.” I said to her.

It was unfortunate that she was orphaned because of this apocalypse and as much as I wanted to ask her about her world, I didn’t because it would probably remind her of her dead mother.

“Mr. Mage, my feet hurt, nyah.” Asharra complained.

“Let me try healing your feet.” I said as pointed my staff at her feet.

“No!” She sliced the air with her hands. “Carry me!”

“That’s enough, Asharra.” Daria glared at her.

“It’s okay, Daria.” I shrugged. “Come here.”

Even though she was only seven years old, she was small and light for her age. Probably because her master wasn’t feeding her well. After all, growing kids need to eat a lot. I didn’t mind spoiling children for a bit, so I lifted her up and let her ride in my shoulders.

“Weeee!” Asharra giggled and held my hair tight in excitement.

This was why I love kids. Their laughter and giggles warms my heart. When my eyes turned to Daria, she smiled at me which made me more suspicious of her. Or maybe I was just out of my mind, but I decided to play along and act normally. Asharra might be the only person who could help me keep my sanity. If I ever make it out alive or if I’m lucky enough, still a sane person, I’d adopt her as my own.

After a few hours, my shoulders were starting sore, so I put her down and thankfully, Asharra didn’t complain. There were fewer zombies on the way, so I let Daria do most of the killing. She complained at first, but if she really wanted to be strong, then she should kill the zombies and I’ll support her when necessary. She was level 14 at that time.

Level up! Name: Miguel Arevalo Race: Human Level: 35 HP: 628/628 MP: 1686/1686 SP: 300/300 EXP: 0.04% STR: 19 WIS: 80 AGI: 30 INT: 100 VIT: 50 LUK: 13 DEX: 12 CHA: 21 Satiety: Normal Status Normal Undistributed Attribute Points: 0 Title(s): Masochist: +10% Pain Tolerance and HP Perk(s): Leadership: +10 Charisma and increased follower loyalty Tactician: Tactics and Strategies have higher chance of success Mana Affinity II: Increase in Mana Control and +20% MP

As soon as I leveled up, I distributed all of my points to AGI rather than WIS because I might need more stamina if I have to run away.

“Look! Another smiley.” Daria pointed at the wall. “I guess we’re on the right track.”

“Yeah. Let’s keep going. We’re almost at the bridge.”

Finally, we reached the bridge. Technically, we were already in Rizal province, particularly in Taytay municipality. Now that we were out of the Capital Region, there were more trees than there were buildings. There were also no taller buildings and debris scattered along the road as this place was considered as partially urbanized. It means that it was still a rural area.

However, there were not much of a change in monsters. There were still zombies in the Taytay. In fact, there were more variety of zombies, but at least it was less dense than Pasig. That could probably mean that either my mother formed a survivor group and they cleared this area on their way or the population of this place was low. But why did they go to Rizal instead of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City?

I noticed that one of the corpses that Daria killed wasn’t quite human, but not a beastman like Asharra either. I checked the strange dead zombie as we stopped for a few moments’ rest. They looked like Caucasians. You know, white people like Daria. The noticeable difference was their long ears. Their attire also made them stand out as their clothes were made out of poor quality fabric.

“Is this your first time seeing an elf?” Daria asked.

“Yeah.” I replied. “You already met one, right?”

“Uhm-hm.” Daria nodded. “Most of the survivors I met were elves.”

The elf zombie I was checking was a female one and it has a small dark gem on her forehead. In most fictions, elves tend to be more beautiful, have sharper senses and perception and wiser, if not more intelligent, than humans. They also live longer than humans. That time, I couldn’t confirm if the elves were really pretty because it was a stinking corpse. I wished that I bought the book about the biology and culture of races when I was in Camp Aguinaldo.

My curiosity was killing me, so I had to ask Daria. “Is it true that elves were pretty and live long?”

“Not all elves were pretty.” Daria shook her head. “According to them, they live for at least 100 years.”

“What else?”

“Hmmm. All of them have magic. They said that the brightness of the core on their forehead indicate the strength of their magic. The brighter, the stronger.”

“So this elf’s magic is weak?” I pointed at the elf zombie with a dark core.

“No. That elf is a zombie elf. Their core should be a clear one even when they die.”

Weird. But I guess I should get used to the weirdness of this post-apocalyptic world. I think the gem on their forehead is their mana core and it’s probably the reason why elves were naturally gifted in magic, according to the book I read.

As we went on and follow the signs that my mother left, I suddenly realized something. Ever since Daria came along, the delusions were back and it was worse. Could it be that Daria is one of the Dark Lord’s minions? Or worse, she could be the Dark Lord himself in disguise. I’m still confused if he’s a she or a he. Anyway, I don’t think he has a gender.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. How could I possibly suspect this wonderful blonde chick after she removed my mental strain? You see, it was suspicious enough that she had a friend with the same name as my sister. In fact, my timing was impeccable and I was just in time to save her. It was too convenient, if you ask me.

Plus, her skill [Lullaby] makes anyone who hears her voice fall asleep. There could be a connection between Dark Lord’s nightmares and her skill. If so, then how about the dreams I had before we met? Why didn’t I dream last night? What about Asharra? I think Daria was using her as a shield or something, so I would let down of my guard and trust her more. Why else would she take care of an orphan kid?

If Devils truly exists in this world, they wouldn’t be the ugly fuckers you see in movies. They would want to be beautiful. Although the Dark Lord looked like a typical demon when we first met, I doubt that it was his true form. The Dark Lord showed me his monstrous form to make me fear him, but he failed. Now, he’s probably trying to use his charm.

This was one of the reasons why I hated beautiful girls. I know I’ve already mentioned it before, but no one really suspects the prettiest. We all expect villains to be the ugliest motherfuckers in existence, but unfortunately, in my experience, that wasn’t always true.

Oh, it’s okay. I trust you. You have a nice tits and a pretty face. Wait. What? You poisoned my coffee? How could you? Why is there knife sticking in my back? Nah, it’s okay, you’re pretty and I’m dead... Did you see my point?

If it’s true that Daria was the Dark Lord, then why the hell was I not freaking out? Why not kill her and be done with it? Well, I’ll be honest.

First, the Dark Lord had gone through lengths to fuck with my mind. He succeeded, so what’s the point if I die in the end? Second, if I try something stupid, he will reveal himself and I’ll be doomed. Third, he probably has something store for me and whatever it was, it involves me being alive.

The number of zombies increased in the way. They weren’t attacking us because we were wearing our disguises, but we decided to kill everything in our path just to be sure because we didn’t want another horde swarming at us.

“Wait.” I said as I get down and hid behind a truck.

“What is it?”

“There’s too many zombies there.” I pointed at the building.

I took out my journal as I suddenly had a bad feeling. Shame. I only got a few lines left. I’ll update this as soon as I can until I find another notebook or if the Dark Lord got me first. Either way, I prefer the former. It was strange that the zombies were massing together at the entrance of the building which was used to be a hardware store. There was a huge sign which read: Home Depot.